Voices for Creative Nonviolence has deep, long-standing roots in active nonviolent resistance to U.S. war-making. Begun in the summer of 2005, Voices draws upon the experiences of those who challenged the brutal economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and U.N. against the Iraqi people between 1990 and 2003. More about Voices

Six women showed up for a meeting Tuesday at Rep. Greg Walden’s Bend office, wanting to personally urge him to oppose any more funding for the war in Iraq. That began a sit-in, and nearly 12 hours later, despite an offer to chat with him the next day - if they left - they still refused to leave and were arrested on criminal trespass charges, officials said.

“I’m disappointed in MoveOn. We are not politicians, we are citizens. Let the politicians advocate half-way measures if they choose, but only after they have felt the full force of citizens who speak for what is right, not what is winnable in a shameful timorous Congress. Timetables for withdrawal are not only morally reprehensible in the case of a brutal occupation (would you give a thug who invaded your house, smashed things up, and terrorized your children a timetable for withdrawal?) but logically nonsensical. If our troops are preventing civil war, helping people, controlling violence, then why withdraw at all? If they are in fact doing the opposite — provoking civil war, hurting people, perpetuating violence — they should withdraw as quickly as ships and planes can carry them home. If Congress thinks it must compromise, let it. But we should not encourage that. We should speak our minds fully, boldly and say what is right, whatever they decide to do..

“I would add this: To me it is tantamount to the abolitionists accepting a two-year timeline for ending slavery, while giving more money to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act.

“There is an understandable predisposition for reasonable people to compromise, but there are compromises which are real, and others which are surrenders. See the new movie THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY. The Irish rebels were offered a compromise, which gave them the Irish Free State, something palpable, a ledge to stand on from which to fight for more, which they have done. There is nothing palpable in this “compromise,” only a promise whose fulfillment is in the hands of George Bush, and meanwhile funds the ongoing slaughter in Iraq.”

Barbara Webster protested the Vietnam War as a teenager and, now, as a senior citizen, the war in Iraq.

So Webster, 64, of Montclair marked the fourth anniversary of the Iraq invasion yesterday by joining a dozen other peace activists in asking New Jersey’s Democratic U.S. senators, Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg, to sign a pledge to end the war by voting against an upcoming spending bill that will pay for it.

After dropping off the pledge forms at the senators’ Newark offices without receiving a commitment, the activists left the Gateway Center and walked into the blustery air with their anti-war placards in tow. They vowed to return next week, prepared to be arrested in an act of civil disobedience if the senators don’t sign the pledge.

(On March 19, 2007, Congressman John Lewis rose on the floor of the House of Representatives to firmly state his continued opposition to the war in Iraq. His work for social justice goes back at least as far back as his work with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in the 1960’s).

Mr. Speaker,

I rise with deep concern that on this very day 4 years ago, our Nation inaugurated a conflict, an unnecessary war, a war of choice, not a necessity.

The most comprehensive intelligence we have, the National Intelligence Estimate and the latest Pentagon report, tells us that Iraq had descended into a state of civil war. Over 3,000 Americans have died, and hundreds of thousands, some even say up to 1 million citizens of Iraq, have lost their lives in this unnecessary conflict.

And while we are telling our veterans of this war, the elderly, the poor, and the sick that there is no room in the budget for them, the American people have spent over $400 billion on a failed policy. We cannot do more of the same. Mr. Speaker, violence begets violence. It does not lead to peace.

WASHINGTON — Four anti-war protesters, including Kristin Sundell of Hampden, were arraigned on unlawful entry charges March 13 in District of Columbia Superior Court.

Then, three of the four — but not Sundell — headed right back to the scene of their arrests on Feb. 27, the Washington office of U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski.

For the second time in as many weeks, Stephen Lane, 66, of Bethesda; Jean Athey, 61, of Brookville, and Peter Perry, 37, of Derwood were arrested by U.S. Capitol Police for failing to leave the senator’s office after its 6 p.m. closing.

On Monday, March 19, a group of 200 people marched to the office of Senator Claire McCaskill to deliver a Deed for the War in Iraq. Here is an 8-minute video that shows the march through downtown Saint Louis, the arrival at the Robert A. Young Federal Building, and the negotiations that led to an agreement that six members of our delegation would take the deed and a large $100 billion bill up to the office. Once inside the office, the text of the deed was read to McCaskill’s staff.

A bad back forced me to stay at home yesterday. I was to meet a woman friend at the Iraqi embassy at 7:00am. We heard they would begin taking applications for the new “G” series passport, applications to be sent to Baghdad by courier. This friend, also in need of the new passport, telephoned me later to say that hundreds of Iraqis had shown up at the embassy. Only those with appointment cards however were allowed to enter. She needs the “G” passport as she has received a scholarship to attend a three-week Peace Building Training course which begins the end of May in Vermont. My friend returned to the embassy today as instructed, and was given an appointment for this coming Sunday. They told her that the first batch of applications will be sent to Baghdad on April 1st, and that it will take at least two months for the passports.